Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute (Oct 2007)
New data regarding the migration of spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) breeding in the Danube Delta, based on color ring resightings
Abstract
Based on our previous knowledge the Spoonbills breeding in Europe follow three main migratory routes towards Africa. Populations from the western part of the continent follow the East Atlantic coast of Europe, passing through Gibraltar and winter in Western Africa. The Central European populations fly south to Italy, Sicily, then are crossing the Mediterranean Sea towards Tunis, Libya, Israel and Egypt, sometimes flying over the Sahara desert as far as to Eastern- and Central Africa . Spoonbills from Eastern Europe follow the coast of the Black and Marmora Seas, then the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, where some are spending the winter. Others reach EastAfrica or even go further east to Iran or India. A color marking study – using engraved PVC rings – was launched in 2002, to follow the migration of Spoonbills breeding in the Danube Delta. From the 219 birds ringed 20 were resighted totalizing 23 observations. These recent resightings suggest a post breeding movement and migratory route with much a broader angle – between Spain in the west and Oman in the east. The birds were observed in 10 countries from Europe, Africa and Asia. The observation of a color ringed individual at Biharugra, Hungary early in migration indicates a true postbreeding dispersal towards north-east. Other resightings in Croatia and Italy suggest an orientation towards the main migratory route of the Central European population. The resighting of an individual in Spain indicates population exchanges even with Western European spoonbills, moreover as birds from Romania were observed in Tunisia together with spoonbills from Western and Central European populations. We consider that in the future especially using colorringing or satellite telemetry we may understand much better the migratory pathways of Spoonbills from Romania.
